Photo of first ever blooming space Zinnia flower grown onboard the International Space Station's Veggie facility moved to catch the sun’s rays through the windows of the Cupola backdropped by Earth. Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly/@StationCDRKelly

Furthermore its contributing invaluable experience to scientists and astronauts on learning how to grow plants and food in microgravity during future deep space human expeditions planned for NASA’s “Journey to Mars” initiative.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly is proudly sharing stunning new photos showing off his space grown Zinnias – which bloomed for the first time on Jan. 16, all thanks to his experienced green thumb.

The most breathtaking view, seen above, shows the newly blooming Zinnia soaking up sunlight inside the seven windowed Cupola – backdropped by our beautiful Earth and one of the stations huge power generating solar arrays. The domed Cupola is the astronauts favorite place on station.

“Yes, there are other life forms in space!” Kelly tweeted in glee over the weekend with a magnificent series of photos of the fruits of his space gardening labor.

So the six humans currently aboard the ISS are now sharing the orbiting outpost with the experimental Zinnias being grown in the stations Veggie plant growth facility.

Whereas the Zinnia plants are normally bathed with red, green and blue LED lighting in the chamber, Kelly decided to further nurture the plants with some all natural sunlight from our life giving sun.

The Veggie experiment is comprised of “pillows” holding the Zinnia flower seedlings that provide nutrients to the plants root system inside the experimental and low-cost illuminated growth chamber.

Blooming space Zinnia out in the sun for the first time aboard the International Space Station! Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly/@StationCDRKelly

Kelly is clearly relishing his new role as “Veggie commander” of the now thriving Zinnias by following in the fictional footsteps of botanist Mark Watney in “The Martian” and deciding on his own how best to care for the plants.

But it almost wasn’t to be. Only a few weeks ago, these same Zinnias were suffering from a serious case of space blight when he discovered traces of mold just before Christmas – as reported here.

Zinnia flowers growing in planting “pillows” inside the International Space Station’s Veggie facility are showing traces of mold, which were collected for study back on Earth. Veggie is part of the VEG-01 investigation to grow plants in a growth chamber while comparing their progress to ground-based counterparts. Credits: NASA/Scott Kelly

So Kelly set about to save the Zinnias from a potential near death experience.

The survival of the Zinnias is a direct result of Kelly requesting permission to take personal change of caring for the plants without having to constantly ask Mission Control for pages and pages of detailed instructions and direction.

Thus after Christmas he was liberated to act on his own discretion and christened as “an autonomous gardener.”

The Veggie science team created and gave Kelly a “simple one-page care guide as a streamlined resource” dubbed “The Zinnia Care Guide for the On-Orbit Gardener,” said NASA officials.

The Zinnias have been on the rebound ever since and the proof is in the blooming.

“Soon, the flowers were on the rebound, and on Jan. 12, pictures showed the first peeks of petals beginning to sprout on a few buds.”

“Some of my space flowers are on the rebound!” Kelly tweeted in an ISS Weekend Update to space enthusiasts and horticulturalists worldwide.

“No longer looking sad!”

Zinnia flower blooms in space for the first time in the Veggie growth facility aboard the International Space Station on Jan. 16, 2016. Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly/@StationCDRKelly

Photo of first ever blooming space Zinnia flower grown onboard the International Space Station’s Veggie facility moved to catch the sun’s rays through the windows of the Cupola backdropped by Earth. Credit: NASA/Scott Kelly/@StationCDRKelly

I wonder if we will eventually find that vegetables DO require gravity to fully mature/grow? NASA at one point planned on including a CAM – Centrifuge Activity Module – built by Bigelow Aerospace, on the ISS but that project was dropped by the Bush admin. The prototype module now languishes unused in a Japanese car park and probably will never be flown with nothing big enough to launch it? like a shuttle?

It’s just too bad and a crying shame that module wasn’t flown because we definitely need something like that to get a strong manned mission to Mars and back. My hope is that new funding will be found to launch that or a similar module?